Administration of financial accounts

ABSTRACT

A credit facility for controlling financial transactions is arranged with the ability of users to establish self-imposed limits on a category by category basis. The processing system provides messages and other information to the user, both on-demand and at the point of sale, based upon the category of the transaction and the limit set for that category. In one embodiment, both the user and, if desired, third parties, can obtain or be notified, of account balances on a category by category basis. Also, the main user can assign category limits, or prohibitions, on sub-users of the same account. In one embodiment, information pertaining to a specific transaction is communicated to a third party.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/567,044which, in turn, is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 10/192,426, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,254,548. Thisapplication also claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.:11/567,032; 11/767,246; and 11/567,069, all of which claim priority toU.S. Pat. No. 7,254,548. The subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 7,254,548,and application Ser. Nos. 11/567,044; 11/567,032; 11/767,246; and11/567,069 is expressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The popularity of credit cards, debit cards, and other facilities forfinancing transactions for the consuming public at the point of sale isnow without question. It is easy, and all too prevalent, that along withsuch popularity and ease of use of most point of sale credit facilities,comes financial difficulty for many people.

It is difficult, even for the most disciplined person, to resist thetemptation of purchasing a product spontaneously. This impulse buying isoften encouraged by merchants and, when done well, is highly effective.

Today, most credit facilities, such as credit cards, have ultimatespending limits, such that when the limit is exceeded (or the mostrecent invoice not paid promptly) the consumer user is denied furtheraccess to credit. Usually, by this time, the consumer is in financialdistress.

Many credit facilities today allow consumer users to obtain currentbalances, as well as recent purchase information, by telephone orInternet, or other on-line access. This historical data does notadequately address the problem, as it does not help the consumer inmaking purchasing decisions at the time a purchase decision is beingcontemplated. Also, many credit facilities give annual print-outsummaries of purchases by category. While such reports are nice to haveat tax season, or for next year's planning, they are a backward-lookingview and do not serve to help the consumer on a day-to-day basis. Peopleon fixed incomes, low incomes and people with debt “problems,” should beon rigid budgets and may require current financial information in a moretimely manner. People striving simply to “watch” their spending alsorequire current information, if they are to make intelligent buyingdecisions.

Another problem exists today when some users have the use of a cardissued to another person. For example, in an employer/employee situationoften an employee is given use of a credit card for the purchase ofgoods or services which are business related. Unfortunately, such creditfacilities are sometimes misused, or the balances go too high, and bythe time the employer learns of the problem it may be too late to remedythe situation.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Various embodiments are directed to a system and method which allowsconsumer users to establish self-imposed limits on the user's spending(borrowing) such that when the limit is reached the consuming user isnotified. This notification can be before, during or after the point ofsale transaction, and can be delivered, if desired, by the accountclearing network and printed on the user's purchase receipt. Thenotification message can be delivered via a phone call, email or over anInternet connection to the user. The notification can be to one or moredesignated third parties, such as a parent, or card owner, or a debtcounselor.

In at least one embodiment, the user will pre-establish self-imposedspending limits (guidelines) on a category by category basis, and eachcategory can have, if desired, a different accounting period. Forexample, the food category can have a monthly (or weekly) limit, whilethe hobby category can have, for example, an annual or semi-annuallimit. Since these limits are self-imposed, they do not impact theuser's ability to complete any transaction, but rather they serve toprovide the user meaningful information at a time when that informationis most useful.

In another embodiment, the user may access his/her account, other thanat the point of sale, to see (or hear) a running total of categorybalances, based on accounting periods, as well as comparisons againstthe user imposed pre-established category by category budget.

In another embodiment, the user can establish the limits, and can changethe limits when desired, by telephone, email, Internet or the like. Alsothe limits need not be constant from accounting period to accountingperiod. Thus, if a person's ability to repay the charged (borrowed)amount fluctuates during the year, the user may pre-establish that thelimits will automatically change during those periods. Also, the usermight decide that if his/her total outstanding balance reaches a certainamount, certain budgeted categories then will be reduced until the totalunpaid amount recedes below the “critical” level. In this regarddifferent categories can be given different priorities.

For example, assume a user has a total line of credit of, say, $5,000.Also assume that the user has established that his/her food budget is tobe $200 per week (with the highest priority set), and that the boatbudget is $1,000 per year (with the lowest priority set). Also let usassume that the user has set a self-imposed arbitrary cap on his/heroutstanding credit card balance of, $2,000, let us assume also that thecurrent outstanding balance has exceeded the self-imposed $2000 limit,but has not reached the $5,000 card limit.

Now let us assume that the user desires to buy a new $100 fishing rodfor his boat and this will be the first “boat” purchase this year. Theuser can access his account in any number of ways, for example, byvoice, or by Internet or at the point of sale. When the user accessesthe account, since the self-imposed outstanding balance cap of $2,000has been exceeded, the user will be informed that the available budgetfor the fishing rod is zero, even though the available budget amount is$1,000 and even though the line of credit still allows for $3000 worthof spending. Note, that had the user inquired about a food categoryhe/she would have been told the actual amount available (or the actualamount used, if desired) in the “food” category.

In a still further embodiment, the user may establish sub-users onhis/her account and may authorize each user to use the account only withrespect to certain categories, or category amounts, or only up to acertain credit limit, or only for a certain period of time, or acombination of the above.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the various embodiments in order that the detaileddescription of the embodiments that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter whichform the subject of the claimed subject matter. It should be appreciatedby those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodimentsdisclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designingother structures for carrying out the same purposes of the describedembodiments. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art thatsuch equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope ofthe claimed subject matter as set forth in the appended claims. It is tobe expressly understood that each of the figures is provided for thepurpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as adefinition of the limits of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the claimed embodiments, referenceis now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment where the credit-carduser is making a purchase at a point of sale located at a merchant'spremises;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of another embodiment where the credit carduser is making a purchase, editing a profile or obtaining accountinformation via an on-line Internet (or telephone) connection;

FIGS. 3A and 3B show one embodiment of an operation where the userobtains information from and/or edits his/her profile;

FIG. 4 shows one embodiment where the processing system, in response toa request, provides a message and/or blocks the transaction dependant,in part, upon the information contained in the user's profile;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show embodiments of profile data bases on a category bycategory basis; and

FIG. 7 shows one embodiment of a user account organized by category.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to FIG. 1, there is shown System 10, which is one embodimentshowing user 100 with credit card 11, getting ready to insert the cardinto card reader 12 to complete a sales transaction at a point of sale.The information from card reader 12 is communicated via communicationslinks 14.1 and 14.2 and network 101 to central processor 15. Processor15, in conjunction with database 16 and profiles 17, then categorizesthe various purchases being made and stores those purchase amounts andcategories in database 16, according to profiles of user 17, as stored,for example, in profile data base 17.

As will be discussed, these profiles can include not only the budgetamounts for each category, but what types of items would fit into thedifferent categories. Based upon the profiles, processor 15 then cancommunicate in one or more of several ways, such as, for example, backover communications links 14-1, 14-1 to user 100 or over alternatecommunication paths via auxiliary communication 18. This communicationcan be, for example, via printer 13, or it can be via auxiliarycommunication path 18. Auxiliary communication 18 can be, for example,to the user via cell phone, pager, or other device. At the same time, ifdesired, third parties, such as parents, employers, debt counselors andothers, could also be notified. This communication can, if desired,occur for all purchases, or for certain of the purchases by category orby amount.

The system can be designed, if desired, such that if the amounts in acategory (or if the total outstanding balance at that time) were toexceed a certain amount, user 100, or a third party as identified in theuser's profile, would be required to give specific approval for aparticular purchase. This system could be extended so that third parties(such as parents) can allow a child to use a credit card, but certainpurchases over a certain amount, or all purchases, or purchases incertain categories, will require approval from the parent (or otherthird party), who would not actually be present at the point of sale.

For example, a parent could allow a child to have a credit card for thepurpose of buying clothes. The child then selects his or her purchasesat a location and runs card 11 through the card reader at the point ofsale. The system, via profile 17, database 16 and processor 15, thenrecognizes that this is a card which is a sub-account card of a mainaccount, or an account that is otherwise special to this person.Processor 15 then enables a communication to the third person identifiedby profile 17 via auxiliary communication 18. This communication couldbe, for example, cellular, landline, Internet, pager, PDA, or the like.The purchase can only be completed, if the third person responds in apositive manner (perhaps by pushing a button or speaking an acceptanceword as set out in the user's profile). Processor 15, perhaps working inconjunction with other network processors, controls the acceptance backto the point of sale.

In some situations, it could be appropriate for the item that is beingpurchased to have a picture, available either in an auxiliary database16-1, or transmitted from the point of sale at the time of purchase,transmitted to a third person, either for approval or simply forinformation purposes. This would be helpful, for example, when a husbandis buying a suit and wants his wife to see the suit before the purchaseis consummated. A picture of the suit could be captured by camera 12-1,communicated over the communication link to processor 15, and thenthrough auxiliary communication 18 to a designated third party at a cellphone, computer, pager, FDA, or the like.

In some situations, the purchaser may desire additional information,such as warranties, specifications, pictures, assembly instructions, tobe sent to a specific location (such as the point of sale, or to his/herhome), or the purchaser may wish to register his/her purchase with theseller, or even apply for a rebate, all at the time or purchase.Processor 15, working in conjunction with database 16 and profiles 17then could send the purchaser's address and other information to theseller. The seller's information obtained from transmitted POSinformation, or from data contained at the central location, such asfrom auxiliary database 16-1, would be combined with the user's(purchaser's) information as obtained from database 16, and sent to theseller. Since the user specific database contains information pertainingto the user's prior purchases it could be used, for example to aid thepurchaser in making new purchases, perhaps by providing compatibilityinformation to the user, either at the POS or on demand. Thiscompatibility information could be within system 10, but would likelyreside with each specific seller and could be supplied to the user atthe POS (or on demand) in response to the above-discussed purchaseregistration.

Note that auxiliary database 16-1 can hold any type of information thatis desired to be communicated to either user 100 or to third parties.This information could be sound, video, or any type of information, andcan be stored in compressed format in the well-known manner. Also theinformation sent to a third party could be, for example, pictures,video, color, audio or any combination thereof. In addition, theinformation could be partially located in the database, such as database16-1 and available based upon some information, perhaps a bar code orother information sent from card reader 12 or from camera 12-1.

In addition, the system could use camera 12-1 to take a live picture ofuser 100 at the point of sale and to then match that picture against aknown picture or other information. This could then be sent to a thirdparty for verification based upon a profile in database 17. Thus, when amain user of a credit card allows other sub-users, which could beemployees, children, relatives, temporary workers, to use thesub-account card, each purchase using the sub-account card couldtrigger, if desired, the taking of a picture of the then user at thePOS. This picture, or other information (such as a password) could betransmitted, under control of profile 17, database 16 and processor 15to the main user, as discussed above, such that the transaction wouldnot be completed until the main user signified acceptance.

This system, for example, could be used to keep an account “open” forthe real user for a period of time when a card is reported lost orstolen. In such an event, the profile would be used to provide thesystem with a special verification procedure unique to the user. Thisverification could be for example, a password necessary at eachpurchase, or a biometric sent from the POS for comparison during eachtransaction.

System 10 could operate such that the main user, as will be discussed,can at any time change his/her profile, thereby adding or changingpasswords, and assigning passwords or other control information to theprofile. These passwords could be for the main account, or for anysub-account. When the credit card is presented at a POS, system 10 wouldcheck the user's profile to see if any such passwords, third partyapprovals, etc, are required. If so, the salesperson at the point ofsale could then follow directions sent to that person via network 101 soas to obtain the proper identification of the user. This would give anadded measure of security to credit card users. For example, the profileof a user might specify that call-in purchases (ones where the card isnot physically present at the POS location) will need to be verified bya specified password, or verified by a communication placed by thesalesperson (or by system 10) to a third person. The user's own createdprofile will allow for flexibility in this regard.

Note that the profile of the user, including database information ifdesired, could be stored on the user's card along with, if desired, atleast some of the processing. In such a scenario, information from theprofile would be sent to a central processing network to provide theservices for the user as discussed above. A so called “smart card” wouldbe one method of accomplishing this objective.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is shown System 20 in which user 200 isutilizing keyboard 22 and computer 23 to access his or her account viacommunication links 201-1 and 210-2 and public network 24 to web portalor phone operator 25. Portal 25 then accesses processor 15 viacommunication link 202-1. Such accessing of the system by user 200 couldbe for the purpose of obtaining account information at any time on acategory by category basis, or for establishing (as will be discussed)various account categories, balances and sub-users, or user 200 could beusing computer 23 (which could be a telephone, pager, PDA, or the like)as a POS device. Note that connection 201-1, as well as the otherconnections shown, could also be by pager network, cellular network orany other type of network, including for example, wireless, wire line orthe cable satellite network typically utilized for broadcast signalsinto the home for entertainment purposes. Once connected to processor15, the system operates as discussed above with respect to FIG. 1. Inthe situation where at least a portion of the processing is on theuser's smart card, then the user would insert his/her card at a reader(not shown) associated with computer 23. Of course, if the smart cardincluded wireless technology, such a reader would be unnecessary, bothin FIG. 2 as well as in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A shows system 30 which is one embodiment of a system utilized toenable system 10 (FIG. 1), or system 20 (FIG. 2) where a user canestablish various categories and credit limits and/or view the existingaccount at any time. In process 301 the user logs onto the system as iswell known. In process 302 the user is identified and is validated bythe system. At this point the user is given several choices, three ofwhich are shown in FIG. 3A. One such option, as shown in process 303,allows the user to view the account limits and current status. The userin process 304 could edit the profile and in process 305 the user mayestablish new profiles.

Assuming the user wanted to view the account limits, then the user inprocess 330 would select the desired information. The system in process306 would access the processor and other databases and profiles toprovide the desired information, via process 307, which could be in theform of FIG. 5, 6 or 7, or other profile information. If the userdesired to just view the information, process 334, then when the userwas finished, as shown by process 331, the connection would beterminated in a well known manner.

If changes were to be made, as controlled by process 334, then the userwould be directed to edit profile process 304, and the user could eitheredit the main user or subusers. Assuming the main user is to be edited,the user is directed to the same path as would be utilized if there wasto be established a new profile via process 305, such that the user,under control of process 307 would set the categories and limits for themain user.

Going back to process 308, had the main user decided to edit someprofile other than the main user's profile, then the users would beidentified via process 306 and the paths then would be concurrent forboth the sub-users' and main user, such that process 309 would inquireas to whether some users would have different limits, categories, timesor parameters.

If the answer was yes, then those parameters would be set for each useras to which category, amount, time or any other parameter desired forindividual sub-users and the main user. If everybody were to have thesame limits, then process 309 would skip to process 311 and the questionwould be answered as to whether there are automatic limits with timingchanges to be applied. If there were, those parameters would be set viaprocess 312. Process 312 would also control any other parameter thatneeded to be set, such as, by way of example, the user's home address,phone number, email address, auxiliary addresses (both physical andelectronic), cell phone numbers, pagers, PDA addresses, third partynotifications, together with their respective contact information,passcodes, special limits.

After the user is finished entering all of the desired parameters, thequestion would be asked as to whether the normal categories of purchasegoods were to be used. By this it is meant that some categories would bepreset by the system itself, such that clothes being purchased wouldalways go under the clothing category. However, if desired, a user coulddecide that clothes from certain stores, or certain types of clothing,such as sporting clothes, would go under a sporting category. The usercould decide, for example, such that certain foods would go under adiscretionary category other than food. This can be seen in FIG. 6 wherethe natural category for, say ice cream, would be food, but a user couldswitch the natural category to a profile category of snack, if desired.Likewise, fishing gear would have a normal category of sporting goods,whereas this user would have a profile category of boating. This wouldallow a user to more finely tailor his or her profile to be moreaccommodating of the user's needs. It would allow a fine tuning ofbudgeting and expenses on an ‘as you go’ basis.

In process 314, the user can assign items to categories and can do so bysub-user if desired, so that certain sub-users can have access to allcategories, or some categories, and also what items are included inthose subcategories. For example, a parent may allow a child a creditcard for the purchase of food, and restrict the child from buyingalcohol or cigarettes, if so desired. Or, the parent could allow thechild to have a credit card for the purchase of gasoline for the familycar, but other products sold at the service station would fall into adifferent category, either naturally or as a selection under thecategories selected under process 314, such that only certain productssuch as gasoline could be purchased by certain users of the credit card.

Continuing on FIG. 3B, if the user desired to set priorities fordifferent categories, process 315, such that as discussed above, basedupon the priority level set in process 316, and the trigger amounts in318, the user would be notified of different category levels such thatthe user is better able to maintain a strict budget when necessary.Since these limits are all self-imposed the user can determine, on acategory by category basis, the difficulty and manner for overriding any“inhibiting” message.

In process 317 it is determined whether only the point of sale user isto be notified, and if so, how that notification is to be made viaprocess 319. Notification can be printed on the receipt, or thenotification can be by cellular phone call, email or other notificationand can be contemporaneously with the transaction or thereafter. Ifthird parties are to be notified, then the names of the third partiesand mode of notification can be set via process 321, all of which wouldbe stored in database 16 and profile 17 (FIG. 1) via process 320.

Before exiting the system, the user may wish to edit the profiles,perhaps to add other people or other categories, limits or the like. Ifso the system recycles back to process 304, FIG. 3A. If not, the user isfinished with the profile.

Turning now to FIG. 4, there is shown system 40 which illustrates oneembodiment of the point of sale transaction where the user is in theprocess of buying a product using a credit facility. The user typicallywould have a card swiped through a reader, as discussed in FIG. 1. Thisoperation is shown by processes 401 and 402. System 40 would thendetermine via process 403 whether the user has a profile. If not, thesystem would proceed as normal, in the well known manner.

If the user has a profile, then the profile is accessed via process 404and the profile then begins to control the transaction at the point ofsale. If there is not a message is to be sent to the user, or to a thirdparty, and if no other special action is to be taken, then the systemwould proceed normally. If special POS actions are required, then thesystem would obtain any appropriate information from the point of salevia process 406. This information can be information from the specifictransaction, such as items purchased, categories, amounts of each item.Or it could be information pertaining to the user, such as for example,a picture of the user, iris scan, fingerprint, or other biometric. Inthis case the picture (or other information) of the user would become anitem to be stored and perhaps sent to third parties for verification ofthe transaction, or simply for record purposes. The information from thePOS could be a user response, such as, for example, the mileage on acar. This information could then be used by the system to calculate theuser's gas mileage (miles per gallon) based on “Gas” category purchasesand user supplied information.

If necessary, process 407 would utilize POS information, such as barcodes or other category information, to then obtain other data from adata base. For example, based upon a bar code obtained from the POS,information could be sent back to the user at the POS or could beforwarded to one or more third parties, perhaps for verification, or forregistration, or the like. Pictures of the purchased items could beobtained, along with specifications, warranty information, last minuteupdated information (such as usually contained in a Read Me file) andsent to the customer at the point of sale, if desired. If a message isto be sent to a third party via process 408, then this message is eithersent or posted via process 409. Another example, would be for thesystem, based on profiled information, to send third party and addressinformation back to the user, perhaps so that the user can send apurchase to the third party.

If the system must wait for verification from a third party, ascontained in process 410, then process 420 controls this waiting periodand the POS transaction stops until the desired information is returned.This information could be approval or other information from thirdparties, or it could be service contract information, specificationinformation, or other types of information desired by a customer.

Then it is determined if a message is to be sent to the user. Thismessage could be the overall account balance, or a category accountbalance, or if desired a summary of category balances. This informationcan be delivered before the completion of the transaction, or afterward,and it could be contained on a receipt generated at the POS or it couldbe a communication to a third party, all determined by the profile ofthe user.

Process 412 controls as to whether the transaction is to be inhibited inany manner. If it is, inhibiting (or blocking if desired) is controlledby processes 416 and 417. If it is not to be inhibited, a determinationmust be made if a message is to be sent to the user at the point ofsale, or other places as controlled by processes 413, 414, 415, 418 and419. If the transaction is to be inhibited, this is controlled byprocesses 416 and 417, all under pre-control of the user.

FIG. 5, as discussed above, shows different categories, codes forcategories, amounts that the user has decided upon, the priority of thecategory, the accounting period for the priority, and how much thecategory can be adjusted and when the adjustment would occur.

For example, in the food category, the amount is $200.00 per week, butduring the months of July and August, this is adjusted by $100.00 totake into account the different food intake needs of the family duringvacation periods. In this case, all users have access. Code 4, which isrestaurants, is a monthly account of $200.00 for eating out atrestaurants. It is adjusted by $300.00 during the month of July, and theonly user that can use it is the A user. The boat account is $1,000.00.It is a semi-annual amount and has a priority 3, which if desired, meansthat if other categories are over at a particular time when the boataccount is to be used this account will be inhibited (subject to beingoverridden by the user) until the overall account balance goes below acertain amount.

As shown in the example, only the B user can buy purchases in the boataccount. For this user account alcohol is a code inhibited for allusers. Thus this account, regardless of who the user is, cannot buyalcohol because of the self-imposed prohibition. Of course, suchprohibitions could apply to any category, such as tobacco, movies, etc.,as established by the user of the account. These prohibitions can be ona category by category basis and can be more finely granulated so thatsub-user accounts can each have different permission levels if desired.

FIG. 6 shows different natural categories that have been changed to theprofile categories, depending upon the specific needs of this user.Thus, when the system processes purchases in certain natural categories,these categories are “translated” into the categories that the userdesires. Thus, as discussed above, instead of ice cream being classifiedas a food, for this user, ice cream would be accounted of in thecategory called snacks.

FIG. 7 shows a sample printout of information that is available to theuser on demand of the user. This information can be periodicallydelivered to the user, or the user can obtain the information on-linevia, for example, the Internet. The available information shows usage bycategory according to the specific profile of the user. This then allowsthe user to plan purchases and to know at any time where the user iswith respect to the user's own budget.

Of course, FIG. 7 can be arranged in any way and the information can beprovided in different formats, and it even could be arranged as the userwould like it to be, based upon user designed formats.

It should be noted that while the example discussed above is an exampleusing a credit card, the term credit facilitation system can be a creditcard, a debit card, a smart card or even a card issued by a specificstore, chain or organization for the purpose of providing discountsand/or identity for particular users.

Although the described embodiments and their advantages have beendescribed in detail, it should be understood that various changes,substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter as defined by theappended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is notintended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process,machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and stepsdescribed in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art willreadily appreciate from the disclosure, processes, machines,manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presentlyexisting or later to be developed that perform substantially the samefunction or achieve substantially the same results as the correspondingembodiments described herein may be utilized according to the presentteachings. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to includewithin their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositionsof matter, means, methods, or steps.

1. A system comprising: means for storing a profile keyed to a useridentity and containing one or more user-selected categories to tracktransactions associated with said user identity, wherein individualuser-selected categories include a user pre-set limit; and means forpresenting transaction summary data for at least one of the one or moreuser-selected categories, said transaction summary data containing saidat least one user-selected category's user pre-set limit.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the individual user-selected categories furtherinclude one or more purchasable items.
 3. The system of claim 2 furthercomprising means for assigning individual purchasable items to one orboth of: a natural category or a user-specified category.
 4. The systemof claim 1, wherein said at least one user-selected category isassociated with one or more user-selected sub-user identities, andwherein said transaction summary data includes one or more sub-usertransactions associated with at least one of the user-selected sub-useridentities.
 5. A method comprising: storing, in a database, a profilekeyed to a user identity and containing one or more user-selectedcategories to track transactions associated with said user identity,wherein individual user-selected categories include a user pre-setlimit; and causing communication, over a communication medium and to areceiving device, of transaction summary data in the database for atleast one of the one or more user-selected categories, said transactionsummary data containing said at least one user-selected category's userpre-set limit.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the individualuser-selected categories further include one or more purchasable items.7. The method of claim 6 further comprising assigning individualpurchasable items to one or both of: a natural category or auser-specified category.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein said at leastone user-selected category is associated with one or more user-selectedsub-user identities, and wherein said transaction summary data includesone or more sub-user transactions associated with at least one of theuser-selected sub-user identities.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein thecommunication medium comprises, at least in part, a networkcommunication medium.
 10. The method of claim 5, wherein thecommunication medium comprises, at least in part, a wirelesscommunication medium.
 11. The method of claim 5, wherein thecommunication medium comprises, at least in part, a cellularcommunication medium.
 12. A method comprising: storing, in a database, aprofile keyed to a user identity and containing one or moreuser-selected categories to track transactions associated with said useridentity, wherein individual user-selected categories include a userpre-set limit; and causing communication, over a communication mediumand to a receiving device, of transaction summary data in the databasefor at least one of the one or more user-selected categories, saidtransaction summary data containing said at least one user-selectedcategory's user pre-set limit, and wherein said transaction summary datais configured to be presented by the receiving device in a table. 13.The method of claim 12, wherein the individual user-selected categoriesfurther include one or more purchasable items.
 14. The method of claim13 further comprising assigning individual purchasable items to one orboth of: a natural category or a user-specified category.
 15. The methodof claim 12, wherein said at least one user-selected category isassociated with one or more user-selected sub-user identities, andwherein said transaction summary data includes one or more sub-usertransactions associated with at least one of the user-selected sub-useridentities.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the communication mediumcomprises, at least in part, a network communication medium.
 17. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the communication medium comprises, at leastin part, a wireless communication medium.
 18. The method of claim 12,wherein the communication medium comprises, at least in part, a cellularcommunication medium.
 19. A system comprising: means for listingfinancial transactions for a user which occurred during a lastaccounting period, said financial transactions listed in accordance withone or more user-selected categories; and means for presenting, inassociation with an individual user-selected category, an amount of thefinancial transactions in said individual user-selected category forsaid last accounting period together with a user-identified categorylimit associated with said individual user-selected category.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19 further comprising means for presenting a userprofile pertaining to the financial transactions, said profile beingpresented using one or more of the following: the Internet, email,telephone or physically supplied information.
 21. The system of claim 19further comprising: means for accepting one or more changes to at leastone of the one or more user-selected categories, the one or more changespertaining to anticipated financial transactions; and means for causingstorage of said one or more changes for subsequent use.
 22. The systemof claim 19 further comprising means for listing, in association with atleast one of the one or more user-selected categories, one or more subusers and their respective authorized amounts.
 23. The system of claim19 further comprising means for listing, in association with at leastone of the one or more user-selected categories, one or more sub usersand their respective times of usage.
 24. The system of claim 19 furthercomprising means for allowing a user to change a natural association ofitems within at least one of the one or more user-selected categories.